Labour Party Slams APC for ‘Historic’ Poverty, Pledges Hope and Reform By Zainab Rauf, & Amos Joseph The Acting National Chairman of...
Labour Party Slams APC for ‘Historic’ Poverty, Pledges Hope and Reform
By
Zainab Rauf, & Amos Joseph
The Acting National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Senator Nenadi Esther
Usman, has delivered a scathing critique of the All Progressives Congress
(APC)-led federal government, accusing it of plunging Nigerians into
unprecedented levels of poverty and hardship.
Addressing journalists on recent party
developments in Kaduna, Senator Usman said the Labour Party is determined to
correct the “grave missteps and failures” of the ruling APC. She urged
Nigerians not to lose faith in the LP, which she described as the only credible
and people-focused alternative capable of restoring hope and national dignity.
According to Usman, “No government in Nigeria’s
history has impoverished the people as the APC has.” She called the current
suffering across the country “intolerable” and warned against normalizing such
hardship.
Commenting on the defection of several
politicians, including some from the LP, to the ruling party, Senator Usman
described the trend as both morally and legally questionable. “You can’t ride
to power on the back of a party and abandon it afterward without betraying
public trust,” she said.
Despite internal challenges and past errors in
candidate selection, the LP, she insisted, remains strong and united. “Many of
those who left never believed in the vision of a new Nigeria. Their departure
has only clarified our ranks,” she added.
She called on aggrieved members to return and
unite as the party prepares for its membership revalidation, congresses, and
national convention—all approved by the National Executive Council (NEC).
Tinubu’s Borrowing Spree Will Sink Nigeria –
ADC Warns
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has
condemned President Bola Tinubu’s escalating foreign borrowing, warning that
Nigeria is on the brink of a fiscal catastrophe. The party said the latest $21
billion loan approval by the National Assembly represents a deepening of a debt
crisis that could push total public debt past ₦200 trillion by year-end.
In a strongly worded statement, ADC’s National
Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, labeled the borrowing trend
“fiscal vandalism” and accused the administration of “mortgaging Nigeria’s
future to cover the failures of today.”
The party said the Tinubu administration’s
borrowing rate is ten times higher than that of former President Buhari. “While
Buhari borrowed N4.7 trillion annually on average, Tinubu is borrowing nearly
N50 trillion per year—more than the country can sustain,” the statement said.
ADC also criticised claims that Tinubu's
borrowing is smaller in dollar terms, noting that the collapsing naira has made
the actual debt burden far worse. “In naira, Tinubu’s yearly foreign loans
amount to N25.5 trillion—massively outpacing Buhari’s N2.2 trillion per annum.”
The party further accused the National
Assembly of rubber-stamping loan approvals without demanding accountability. It
called on lawmakers to fulfil their constitutional duty by scrutinising loan
terms and demanding transparency.
According to the ADC, Nigeria’s public debt
has ballooned from ₦12.6 trillion in 2015 to over ₦149 trillion in 2024 under
APC rule. External borrowing alone now stands at over $35 billion, with
Eurobond debt growing elevenfold in the past decade.
The party lamented that despite the loans,
infrastructure remains poor, hospitals are underfunded, universities are
neglected, and power supply is still unreliable. It also warned that the
borrowing spree is squeezing small businesses, choking investor confidence, and
burdening families with unbearable taxes.
“The government is borrowing blindly while
ignoring the pain it inflicts on the citizens. Nigerians deserve to know who’s
signing these loans, at what cost, and where the money is going,” the ADC
concluded, calling for full public disclosure of all loan agreements in the
last ten years.
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